Dropping Noah off at school on a beautiful June morning, I’ve returned to face the ten dump truck loads of dirt that I volunteered to take. I need them, but I need them to take the forms that I need them to. That is okay. It is my famous “Give a Mouse a Cookie From Hell” scenario. This needs to happen, but you can’t spread dirt till you stack firewood in the shed, you can’t do that until the rest of the splitting happens, you can’t do that unless until … And So It Goes. I suspect that deviously, my garage is probably involved, I just know it is!
Work time begins soon. I could sit and watch the news, but I don’t want all that negativity in my life on such a beautiful morning. Lately, for me, it is been about understanding that I can finish things. I have learned that having too many unfinished projects damages me into thinking that I am succeeding at nothing. It is a house of cards.
So what about the kitchen? I am years beyond just going to stores and buying ingredients that become fantastic meals later on. In fact, many composite ingredients, I have learned to create myself. Chili crisp and chili oil for instance. Yes, I can buy this off the shelf and just crack open a new jar. It’s convenient, delicious, fast, and comes with a price. What about Mirin? Same deal. I do not use Mirin too much, but when I buy it, it seems like I am always on the last ounce of it in the bottle. Money again. So what do you do when you have 15 minutes to burn in which you can do something to remind you that you are capable of completing SOMETHING? Just a little sense of accomplishment that uses that time block wisely investing time and resources.
The brown sugar is low. Downstairs to retrieve a 4 lb bag of sugar I go. By the way, when did they change these bags from 5 lbs down to 4 anyway? Deception lives everywhere, especially in Commerce. Food processor, molasses, and half of the 4 lb bag whirl their way into brown sugar. Then it is time to go to work for the day.
You may wonder why I put myself through all of this. To start with, a penny saved is truly a penny earned, right? My $20 tire changer and $59 balancer have saved me like $1,000, with more savings to come. This is real money.
Brown sugar though? I buy staples and turn them into things that modern society is brainwashed into thinking that they have to buy at a store, inadvertently I’m elevating the experience. You eat at my house and there are all these differences in small places such as chili oil and mirin, brown sugar, fried shallots, pickled onions, homemade teriyaki sauce, homemade rubs, vinegar, and sauces that are otherwise packaged and bottled, you crossed the line from black and white to Technicolor to your senses. The end result cannot be duplicated just by telling someone to marinade or brine before composing! It’s more granular. In this way, the flavors make a grand entrance. This is a far cry from going to Dunkin Donuts and getting a breakfast sandwich that tastes more like cardboard and it does actual food that its appearance suggests.
When you give it a chance and make use of things you have, you just might find that you have crossed over into the flavor zone that you did not know existed. The food blasts colorful flavors at you like that autumn day that you know as you take photographs of it, that the end result will never truly capture what you are seeing right now.
I do highly recommend this. No one has the time to make everything, but pick something you love, research it and give it a try. I just know, you will find joy in doing so.